Saturday, July 20

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Behind a store destroyed by Russian attacks in the city of Chuhuiv in Kharkiv Oblast, a mural depicts a portrait of artist Ilya Repin, July 19, 2024. Repin was born in the city, which was targeted by two Russian Iskander-M missiles overnight. (Ivan Samoilov/Gwara Media/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

Zelensky addresses UK Cabinet, urges Starmer to ‘show leadership’ on long-range strikes. President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the British government at a Cabinet meeting on July 19, where he asked Prime Minister Keir Starmer to “show your leadership” in helping Ukraine use Western-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia.

Zelensky, Trump hold call, discuss future of US support. President Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump, former U.S. president and Republican presidential nominee, held a phone call on July 19, five years after a fateful 2019 phone call between the two led to Trump’s first impeachment.

Ukraine downs Russian Su-25 warplane in Donetsk Oblast. Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian Su-25 attack aircraft in the Pokrovsk sector of Donetsk Oblast, the Khortytsia group of forces said on July 19.

‘It’s been 18 months’ and F-16s have not yet arrived, Zelensky says. Ukraine is yet to receive the first of the pledged F-16 fighter jets, despite waiting for them for year and a half, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with the BBC on July 18.

Warsaw made ‘positive decision’ that will help Kyiv get F-16s faster, Zelensky says. “And today, we have a positive decision from the Polish government on a specific issue, which will allow Ukraine to receive F-16 jets sooner,” President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X without elaborating.

Ukraine’s military intelligence rules out ‘powerful Russian offensives’ in new directions. Russian troops continue to push along almost the entire front line, but new “powerful offensives” are unlikely, Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson Andrii Yusov reported on July 19 during a national television broadcast.

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Nearly 5,000 workers evacuated from Russian-occupied nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, minister says. Around 5,000 workers were rescued from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said on July 19 during a press conference.

Volunteer recruitment up 35 times over past 2 months, military says. Recruitment for voluntary service in the Ukrainian army has increased by 3.5 times over the past two months compared to the period from late 2022 to spring 2024, Roman Horbach, head of Ukraine’s General Staff’s personnel department, said on July 19.

30 Ukrainian officials suspected of embezzling funds designated for military, prosecutors say. Law enforcement officers have uncovered a major embezzlement scheme involving Hr 138 million ($3.3 million) allocated from the state budget for the needs of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced on July 19.

Russian tourists cancel Crimea holidays en-masse, Ukrainian military intelligence says. Russian tourists have canceled summer holiday bookings in occupied Crimea en-masse, amid concerns over the “difficult security situation,” Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) said on July 19.

Russia sentences US journalist Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in jail. Gershkovich was arrested in Yekaterinburg in late March 2023 while working on a story about the Wagner mercenary group’s recruiting methods, as well as Russian citizens’ views on the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Read our exclusives

Ukraine war latest: Ukraine aims to end ‘hot stage’ of war by end of 2024, Zelensky says

“I believe that if we are united and follow, for example, the format of the peace summit, we can end the hot stage of the war. We can try to do it by the end of this year,” Zelensky said.

Photo: President’s Office

Thousands of Ukrainian IDPs are struggling to adapt amid housing, employment crises

There are currently nearly 5 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Ukraine, 3.6 million of whom left their homes during Russia’s full-scale war, according to the Social Policy Ministry.

Photo: Katya Moskalyuk/Global Images Ukraine

Human cost of war

Russian missile attack on Mykolaiv injures at least 14, kills 3, including child. Russian forces attacked the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv with a missile on July 19, killing at least three people, including a child, and injuring 14, Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych said.

Russian attacks against Ukraine kill 7, injure 25. In Donetsk Oblast, five people were killed and seven injured over the past day, according to Governor Vadym Filashkin.

Russian attack on Kharkiv Oblast’s Chuhuiv injures 9. An early morning Russian attack on a residential building in Chuhuiv in Kharkiv Oblast injured nine people, including a 14-year-old boy, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported on July 19.

Russian drone injures 2 medical workers in Kherson Oblast. A 32-year-old paramedic and a 63-year-old driver suffered contusions, blast injuries, and brain injuries, the statement read.

General Staff: Russia has lost 564,620 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022. This number includes 980 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

Opinions and insights

Opinion: Between the ‘Center’ and Europe

“It can be argued that in the 30th year of independence, a new concept of Central Europe was born in eastern Ukraine and eastern Europe, just as it slumbered on the historical territories flanking the eastern reaches of the European Union,” poet and essayist Andriy Lyubka writes.

Photo: “Vyshyvanyi: The King of Ukraine” / Facebook

International response

‘Out of the question,’ Scholz rejects downing Russian missiles over Ukraine. Speaking at a European Political Community (EPC) meeting in the U.K., Scholz said that Kyiv’s request for NATO allies to intercept Russian arms flying over Ukraine is “out of the question.”

UK signs agreement to support Ukraine’s domestic arms industry. The U.K. and Ukraine signed an agreement that provides credit support for the development of Ukraine’s defense industry, Ukraine’s Presidential Office announced on July 19.

Volunteers recruited to Ukrainian Legion will have right to return to Poland, official says. Warsaw will not be involved in recruiting for the first Ukrainian Legion, and volunteers will be able to return to Poland after completing their service, Pawel Zalewski, Poland’s deputy defense minister, told Polskie Radio on July 19.

EU allocates nearly $110 million to restore, protect Ukraine’s energy system. Representatives of Ukraine’s state energy grid operator, Ukrenergo, and the KfW Development Bank signed an agreement worth 100 million euros (nearly $110 million) for energy projects, Ukrenergo announced on July 19.

Orban will continue his so-called ‘peace mission’ after criticism from EU, Bloomberg says. During an interview on state radio, Orban said that the EU needs to join China and the U.S. in light of potential Trump’s return to power to press Russia and Ukraine to start peace negotiations, Bloomberg reported.

‘A very big Russia problem’ – NATO commander warns of post-Ukraine war threat to US and Europe. Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, Colorado, U.S. General Christopher Cavoli said even a Ukrainian victory would only be the beginning of Western attempts to contain Russian aggression.

US imposes sanctions against Russian hacktivist group Cyber Army of Russia Reborn. The restrictions were imposed against Yuliya Pankratova and Denis Degtyarenko, the group’s leader and a primary hacker, respectively.

Russia still recruiting Cubans due to generous payments, Russian citizenship, Bloomberg reports. Cuban volunteers join the Russian armed forces through informal channels, and the total number involved in Russia’s war in Ukraine is “likely in the low hundreds,” the source said.

How Ukrainian tanks stay alive in a war of drones

In other news

Global IT outage affects Ukrainian bank, telecoms. A global outage in IT systems affected Sense Bank, one of Ukraine’s largest banks, and Vodafone Ukraine on the morning of July 19.

Former Ukrainian MP Iryna Farion assassinated in Lviv. Former Ukrainian lawmaker and linguist Iryna Farion died in Lviv on July 19, hours after being attacked, Lviv Oblast Governor Maksym Kozytskyi.

Russia sentences ex-US soldier to 13 years on drug charges. Former U.S. paratrooper and musician Michael Travis Leake has been sentenced to 13 years in Russian prison on drug charges, a Moscow court’s press service said on July 18.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Rachel Amran, Abbey Fenbert, Kateryna Denisova, Kateryna Hodunova, Teah Pelechaty, Martin Fornusek, Lili Bivings, Elsa Court, and Chris York.

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